Prosecution or persecution?

Tue June 16, 2013

The decision to publicly re-arrest Senator Vynnette Frederick while she was having lunch last Thursday, hours after she had been cleared of criminal charges, to put it mildly, was ill-advised.{{more}}

More accurately stated, last week’s actions were totally unnecessary and smack of high-handedness and an excessive use of authority.

Frederick, an Opposition senator, had appeared in court to answer six charges of swearing falsely and making false declarations in relation to a charge she had brought against Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves in 2011.

From the start of the case, it was clear that the way the charges had been stated was problematic. When the case was called at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on April 30, magistrate Ricky Burnette stood down the court for close to 45 minutes to allow the prosecutor time to amend the charges. The charges were amended, but inadequately, it appears.

Last Thursday, explaining his decision to allow the application by Frederick’s lawyers to strike out the charges, the magistrate said the attempt by the assistant DPP to amend the charges was, in his view, inadequate and did not address the particulars. He said he found the charges to be defective, even after he had provided the Crown an opportunity to put its house in order.

Was the prosecution so stung by the ruling of magistrate Burnette that an order to immediately arrest Frederick was given in an attempt to hit back?

Why compound the errors already made by deploying as many as 10 police officers from the Special Services Unit and the Criminal Investigations Department to make this arrest? What is it about this case which gives it priority over everything else members of the police force have to do?

Let it be clear, we are not here saying that Frederick ought not to be prosecuted if the Crown suspects that she is guilty of the offences as alleged. However, Frederick’s lunch with her relatives, friends and legal colleagues did not have to be interrupted in such a dramatic manner, in order to make a point.

The senator is not a flight risk, nor does she pose a danger to society. There was absolutely no need to take her into custody with such haste. She could have been informed of the new charges by way of summons, which would have given her a date to appear in court.

It seems as though the sole intention of last Thursday’s fiasco was to humiliate the young woman, which makes one wonder, is she being prosecuted or persecuted?